Saturday, October 31, 2009

We officially have our first piece of baby furniture in Baby Jillian's room. We bought her glider this week at Babies R Us and Jeff put it together today. It's so wonderful to watch the progress of her room. I can now sit in there and just picture myself holding her and enjoying the view of our backyard. I can not wait!!!!!!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

It's time for another post from Kelly's Korner, "Show Us Your Life". Today's post is all about Fall Decor. I do not have that much inside fall decor to share with you so here is the outside. The mums are from our shower this year which makes them even more special to me!!!!! The little black sticks in the front are pumpkin votive holders, they are a little hard to see. My fall decor is not that outstanding this year since I am at the mercy of my husband, I am on "house arrest" until the baby gets here which means no shopping alone time for me. I can certainly understand his concern, there are just too many crazies out there with obsessions with pregnant women, not to mention the risk of being exposed to H1N1. I made the decision NOT to get the H1N1 vaccine. Our future pediatrician advised against pregnant women getting it due to the lack of research on unborn babies and my OB recommended I get it. The fact that they both have differing opinions is enough for me to just lay low and prevent the flu the old fashion way, a lot of hand washing and hand sanitizer.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Our baby shower was so much fun, I can not believe that it is already over with! How is that possible? I feel like we have been planning it for years and now it is over. Our home obviously looks like we are a couple with a baby on the way. What a whirlwind of a day it was. I didn't even get to take that many pictures because from the moment I arrived, I was too busy talking and laughing with my friends and family. Thank God my sister sent these along for me to remember one of the best days of my life.

My mom, sister, and mother-in-law did such a great job which I am so thankful!!!! The shower took place at Pine Ridge Country Club which is extra special for us because this is also where we had our wedding reception. The table center pieces were decorated with purple fall mums which are now planted in the urns outside of our home. I hope to take a few pictures of them with the next sunny day. (That may take awhile given our weather these days, but I am hopeful!).

I thought for sure I was going to cry that day, but the mood was so much fun, that I didn't. I was just too happy for words all day. After we ate lunch, played a few games, Jeff showed up to help me open gifts. He is so sweet, he showed up with a bouquet of roses for me which was of course met with all sorts of ooh's and ahh's from the ladies. He is just so cute sometimes, I don't know how I got so lucky. At the end of the shower, we decided to reveal her name. I wasn't sure if Jeff was ready to do it but I was so happy that he was! We finally 100% committed to her name. Her name will be Jillian Ann, and we will call her Jill. I just love it, Jillian is just so pretty to me. I am so glad we finally agreed on this! Now I can order all sorts of cute items with her name on it!!!!

I also have to share a crazy story that happened the morning after the shower. Once we got home from the shower, we placed all of our gifts in our den. It's the first room to your left as you walk into our home so it was an easy gift drop off place for us. I tried to keep the gifts to the back of the room because anyone could easily see them if you were standing on our front porch looking into our home. Our shower was on a Sunday and I really didn't have the time or the energy to look at the gifts that evening after everyone left our home. Boy did it feel like Christmas morning in our house as I came down the stairs the next day. I couldn't wait for that Monday workday to be over with so I could finally go through all of our beautiful presents.

I am at work for only an hour when I received a scary phone call. It was a dispatcher from our security system saying that one of the motion detectors in our home was going off and it triggered the alarm. The police were on their way to our home to check things out. She then asked me how quickly I could get there and what I would be driving. I tried to call Jeff and let him know of what was going on and then I remembered he had an early morning meeting. So I drove home in a panic thinking to myself, was someone trying to steal all of our baby gifts? Living in a new construction development, people were in and out of there all day long, who knows if someone caught a glimpse of all the great presents sitting in our den. I called my father-in-law who I knew had just gotten off of work. I asked him to meet me at home since Jeff was in a meeting. I did not want to meet the police myself and certainly wasn't going into a home that had been broken into. I don't think a pregnant lady would be able to scare off any burglars.

When I arrived home, the police were gone, but my father in law had just arrived. I was a bit ticked off that the police hadn't bothered to wait for me. So my father-in-law and I walked into our home, alarm still going off as we entered. We slowly walked into the hall, not sure what to expect on the inside. No main entryway had been broken into or the woman who I spoke to over the phone would have told me. As soon as we walked inside, it was obvious to what had happened. We had placed the huge bouquet of mylar balloons from our shower in our great room, next to our fireplace, for us to enjoy. Apparently these balloons also set off motion detectors!!!!! So the balloons were our "burglar". Apparently when the furnace turned on and off, the balloons started to sway, setting off the motion detector. Unbelievable!!! I returned to work feeling a little embarreseed, I had left in a state of panic and then had to try to explain to my co-workers that a bouquet of balloons was the culprit.

We had a very brief and pathetic two day Indian Summer this week that we took advantage of. On Wednesday, we decided to take the afternoon off and head to a local pumpkin patch. The day was gorgeous and I couldn't imagine spending it inside in a cubicle. It would be one thing if we were having a beautiful October, but we are not, not one nice day to speak of so we had to take advantage!!! So off to Pattersons Fruit Farm we went and it was so much fun. We bought pumpkins, sampled the apple cider, and even had an apple cider donut from their bakery. Yum! I can certainly seeing enjoying one of those a new tradition for us. I have to be honest that this trip to Pattersons was also monumental to us for other reasons. Looking back, we have not been to a pumpkin patch since this. We had only been trying for a few months and even then little thoughts started to enter our heads about what if something was wrong with one of us? And when would it be our turn to have a cute little baby to take pictures of at a pumpkin patch? That feeling stuck with us for awhile and we knew even the thought of returning to a pumpkin patch while dealing with infertility and loss would have just been a miserable time. It's little moments like this that just make us so happy and grateful to be blessed with a healthy baby girl on the way.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Our neighborhood loves to boo each other and this year we received the cutest boo on our door step. Apparently the neighbor who booed us knows we are expecting from all the little baby gifts that we received. Isn't that the cutest onesie ever? I can't wait for her to wear it next Halloween.

What is "booing" you ask? The purpose of booing your neighbor is to surprise them with candy and other fun Halloween items and leaving them on their doorstep. You have to fill a plastic bucket or pumpkin with a bunch of candy and Halloween trinkets including a poem and a "BOO" sign. The poem contains the instructions on what to do next once your received your boo. The boo sign hangs on your door so other neighbors know that you have already been "booed". You are supposed to create two boo packages similar to the one below for two other neighbors who have not yet been booed and secretly place them on their doorstep. You are then supposed to ring the doorbell and run so you don't get caught. We were totally busted this year by both neighbors who we tried to boo. Who is hanging out by their door at 9pm at night? I am thinking these neighbors were anxious to receive their boo gifts from us, I know I would be :)

BOO

The air is cool, the season is fallsoon Boo's will come to all.

The treat that came with the special noteIs yours to keep, enjoy them both.

The fun comes with friends like younow copy this and make it two.

Then others here among our friends, will give warm fuzzies that will never end.

We'll all have smiles upon our face,no one will know who BOOed each place.

Directions:1. Enjoy your treat.2. Place the picture of your BOO on your front door.3. Now you have 24 hours to copy this twice, make 2 treats and 2 BOO's and secretly deliver them to 2 neighbors who do not have BOO on their front door.4. Then watch how far this spreads by Halloween.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Moms, I am seeking your help. I am admittedly an Etsy virgin. Over the years I have heard so many wonderful things about Etsy.com but have not had the honor yet of buying anything. I haven't really had a reason to until now and I would love to hear from you. I have read so many of your blogs and seen all of your adorable babies with their monthly onesies, cute bows, hats and other adorable baby wear. Please recommend your favorite Etsy sellers for baby gear!!! I went on their website just to briefly check things out and right away I was blown away by all of their creative sellers. I have been wanting to get her name spelled out in pink and green letters hanging over her crib with ribbon and these are just so cute. If this is any indication of what this website has to offer, my debit card is in big trouble.

I am just speechless over this baby pink tutu:

My inner organizational freak is loving these:

Beyond cute:

She will be needing one of these for Christmas, I can see it now..."Jillian":

Saturday, October 10, 2009

How far along? 29 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 24 lbs. I would love to just gain the average 30 pounds but it is not looking like it's going to happen. I don't even eat that badly and work out 3-4 times a week. Hopefully I already have a 5 pound baby in there :)

Maternity clothes? I still wear a few non maternity tops but mostly wear all maternity clothes. I have to seriously start thinking of long sleeve tops now since I only have sleeveless and short sleeve maternity tops from the Summer. My sister was so nice to give me her winter tops, I see myself wearing a lot of these in the next two months. I recently bought these two tops from Old Navy and Target. I have to personally thank D over at All Things G&D for suggesting the Old Navy top, it's beautiful and so comfortable. For $16 you just can't go wrong.

Stretch Marks: Still none to report!

Sleep: I am still getting up every night to pee and it's really frustrating. I have to mentally talk myself into going back to sleep and keep my mind from wandering about things I have to do at work and things I want to do before the baby gets here. Some nights are easier than others. We also seem to be having a bit of a coyote issue lately, it's the craziest thing. We have coyotes that live in our back woods and have become a huge nuisance these past few weeks. I will lay in bed in the middle of the night and listen to them howling, arguing or chatting about whatever they are doing that evening. If an ambulance or police car happens to be heard in the distance, this really gets them all riled up and they can go on for a good 15 minutes. It has gotten to a point where I looked up Coyotes on the Internet and read that they are most vocal in the Spring and Fall. In the Spring, they mate, and in the Fall, the pups leave the nest and try to establish new territory. Apparently our backyard is their new favorite choice for marking their territory. Lovely.

Best moment this week: I felt a foot or something that was definitely an appendage. I was laying in bed this week before I got up for work and I felt her stretching. I pushed down on my belly to say hello and I had a big foot sticking out at me. It startled me at first, I was not expecting to feel something so pointy and strong! I haven't felt it since and I have been really hoping she will do it again. She also loves to play hide-and-seek behind my placenta which freaks me out because I don't feel her as much then and I have to lay on my side and really concentrate on her movements. She is starting to venture off onto my left side too which she has never done before. It must be a sign of her getting bigger and taking up more room!

Movement: She seems to be really active every other day. She is a crazy lady one day and then sleeps all day the next. Being so active must really wear her out!

Food cravings: I haven't really had too many cravings to speak of recently, I am still having my milk and morning cereal.

Gender: Girl!

Labor Signs: Thankfully none so far.

Belly Button in or out? Still out, it's becoming even more of an outtie. I read a cute story recently where a teacher was having trouble covering up her outtie and one day one of her first graders asked her if that was the baby's nose!!! LOL!

What I miss: I am really starting to miss my real clothes and shoes. I gave up heals this summer and have been living in flats ever since. It's for good reason because I am a bit klutzy and would feel terrible if I fell because I was too vain to wear flats. Two more months, two more months! I also miss shopping at my favorite girl, Ann Taylor. There are so many cute fall styles this year that I would love to be wearing, I just can't seem to justify spending a lot of money on clothes at this point in my pregnancy with only two more months left. I do keep my eyes open and will take advantage of a fashion deal here and there. I will save the big bucks on clothes for when I lose that baby weight!

What I am looking forward to: my shower this coming weekend! I can't believe it's a week away! I really need to find a dress!

Weekly Wisdom: While Jeff was painting the nursery, I read nearly every new mom must have posts from Kelly's Korner "Show Us Your Life - Baby Gear" post. There were so many amazing suggestions on there and I added several new items to my registry if I found that they were mentioned by several different moms. This post was such a valuable resource on what new mom's really thought were must have products and what items are just not worth it.

Milestones: Making it to almost 30 weeks, it is really starting to feel real!

Sunday, October 04, 2009

I just love my husband, he was up until 2:30am Friday night finishing up the nursery. We used Sherwin Williams Harmony paint which is their low VOC option and shortly found out that you need two coats when using low VOC paint. Sherwin Williams was also able to color match the Benjamin Moore Sweet Taffy that I chose from the Pottery Barn Catalog. The Sweet Taffy color is the exact color of the lightest polka dot in her sheets:

I love how it turned out, it's a little lighter than in these pictures and it will look beautiful when it all comes together.

We are still torn on what furniture to buy for her room. We really like the Munire Essex collection and also the Hartford set from JCPenney. They look identical to each other, it's all a matter of which one we pick. Their are pros and cons to both. I also plan on changing out the knobs to nickel, I am not a fan of the wooden knobs on either set. The JCPenney set is sight unseen though which has us a little concerned. I really need to make up my mind by this weekend. If anyone owns either of these sets, I would love to hear from you and what your experience has been.

Munire Set - We would be ordering this in white. The dresser pictured is not the dresser we would be ordering, it would be the combo dresser similar to the dresser pictured in the JCPenney set below.